Rep. Al Green to face GOP censure efforts for heckling Trump

• Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) was reprimanded in a bipartisan vote for simply shouting "you lie!" during then-President Obama's speech in 2009.
• By the later years of Joe Biden's presidency, however, State of the Union outbursts had become commonplace, with Republicans often heckling him en masse without repercussions.

Driving the news: Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) has introduced a two-page censure resolution, a copy of which was obtained by Axios, accusing Green of "a breach of proper conduct."

• The right-wing House Freedom Caucus said in a post on X that they will "be introducing a censure resolution against Rep. Al Green today."
• Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), a former Freedom Caucus member who left the group last year, told Axios he, too, plans to introduce a censure resolution.
• Whichever censure measure takes primacy is likely to have support from GOP leadership — House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Tuesday night that Green "should be censured."

The other side: Green, who has said he plans to try to impeach Trump, told Axios in a phone interview that he will not fight the censure effort.

• "If I broke the rules, then I have to be prepared to suffer the consequences. You don't break the rules and then demand that you be treated as though nothing ever happened," the Texas Democrat said.

• Green had stood up and shouted that Trump does not have a mandate to cut Medicaid. "I did it because Medicaid is so important to my constituents," he told Axios on Wednesday morning.
• "Let them bring their sanctions. Bring them on," he said.

Yes, but: Any censure vote is still likely to fall down along partisan lines, with Democrat closing ranks around Green, lawmakers told Axios.

• A senior House Democrat and a House Democratic centrist both said they do not expect anyone from their party to support the measure.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.